Artificial hand



Nov. 15, 1927. 1,649,400

H. F. GEISE ARTIFICIAL HAND Filed July 2'7, 1926 /1: fi ais E Patented Nov. 15, 1927.

PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY F. GEISE, or wnrrns, WASHINGTON.

ARTIFICIAL HAND.

Application filed. July 27,

' This invention relates to artificial hands and covers certain improvements in the/artificial hand illustrated and described in my Patent No. 1,557,355, granted on October 13, 1925. I

The general object of the present invention is to improve upon the construction illustrated in this patent by the provision of what may be termed a finger and a thumb, hi the finger in general shape corresponding to the main hook of, the artificial hand dis-' closed in my patent, and the thumb being an attachment to the subsidiary hook thereof, the finger and thumb pieces above referred l to being'soformed and so connected as to permit the finger and thumb to be closed upon an article as, for instance, a pencil and thus permit the wearer of the artificial hand to write and perform other movements which 20 is not possible with the construction or1g1- nally described.

'Anotherobject is toprovide devices of this character correlated as described which will be very simple in act-ion and by which a positive grip of an article such as a pencil, card,

or the like may be readily secured.

Other objects will appear vin the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the, accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of my artificial hand; I Fig. 2 is a perspective v1ew showing the hand opened;

Fig. 8 is a perspective its open position; v

t is a section on the line 4- of F1g-.

ure 2. m

Referring to these drawings 1t will be seen that I have illustrated a portion of the artificial hand shown and described inmy patent above referred to, and that I have indicated generally the forearm receivlng socket 10 of this artificial hand and the end plate 12thereof to which are secured the bracing irons 13 extending upon the opposite sides of the wearers arm and connected at intervals by forearm encircling bands 14, one of which is illustrated in my present drawings.

Operating. through the end plate 12 1s a shaft23, the outer end of which is reduced so-as to be semi-circular in cross section as at 25, and its outer end is directed through i an opening'2O of a lug 21 formed upon the end plate12. The outer end of thiss-haft 35 view of the hand in 1926. Serial No. 125,273.

is formed with a. hook 25 Likewise directed through the opening is a second semicircular shaft section 27, the outer end of which has pivoted thereto a hook. I This hook will be more fully described herein after but is designated generally 28. hook is pivoted to the lower end of the shaft section 27 and has a laterally elongated portion pivoted to links in turn pivoted to a collar. Whilethis hook and its connections is shown in one form in my patent, it forms one of the specific improved details of the present application. Surrounding'the shaft section 27 and-the. section is a collar 29 which is disposed between pins 30 on the shaft section27 and this collar has pivoted thereto a link which is so connected to the upper arm socket, not shown in the'present application but shown in my prior patent, that when the linkis disposed in one position and thearm is flexed, the hooks 25 and 28 will be urged towardseach other and-when adjusted in another positionythe hooks will be urged from-each other when the arm is straightened. All thefparts' heretofore described are fully illustrated in my prior patent and it is'not believed they require any illustration in the present application. Thesame reference numerals have beenused for these parts as were used in my prior patent. I

The hook 28 consists of two plates 44 of sheet metal, which-plates are attached to an intermediate filling block 4:5 by rivets or other'suitable means. The hook on its inner face has a straight and longitudinally extending edge and the bill of the hook instead of extending outwardly'in a relatively long curve as in my prior patent, extends nearly at right angles to the body of the The hook and is only slightly curved as at-46.

The upper end of the hook is laterally extended at 4:7 and is connected by two upwardly convergent links l8 to a sleeve 48 which is the analogue of the sleeve 80 illustrated in my prior patent. Obviously when this sleeve moves downward, the links 18 will cause the hook 28 to swing into a posi tion in alignment withthe shafts 23 and 25 and when the shafts are drawn upward, the hook 28, wh ch may be considered as con- 'stituting a finger, will be swung outward.

and upward. The hook 25f has attached thereto on each side thereof the two plates l whichare of thin sheet metal and each of these plates .is formed with a somewhat curved outer edge 50 and a lug 51, these lugs being joined by a clamping rivet 52 which engages on the inside face of the hook The inner ends of the plates 49 are longitudinally slotted as at 53 and the pivot 54 for the hook 28 passes through this slot. Between the two plates 49 is disposed a filling block 55 and it will be seen that with this construction when the shaft 27 is shifted in one direction, the thumb and finger, formed by the members 49 and 28 respectively, will move away from each other to the position shown in Figure 3 and that when the shaft 27 is moved in a reverse direction the thumb and finger will be dropped in a position shown in Figure 1 or closed so that an implement may be disposed through the space between the thumb and finger and the hand thus be used for holding articles such as a card, as in Figure 2, or a pencil as shown in Figure 1.

It will be seen that this additional structure addsvery greatly to the convenience and adaptability of the artificial hand structure shown in my prior patent while, at the same time, it does not in any way affectthe use of this artificial hand as heretofore disclosed. Thus the two hooks may be brought together or opened out as desired.

It will be understood that in the artificial hand shown in my prior patent, the gripping portion or-outer end portion ofthe hand is rotatable around the axis of the forearm and held in any desired position by means of the latch 33 adapted to selectively engage in the notches 34 formed in the under face of lug 21. It will also be understood that the construction.illustrated in my prior patent permits the hooks 28 and 25 to be shifted towards each other for grasping an object either when the arm is horizontal or is vertical, depending upon the adjustments made upon the link l0. It will be seen that this addition to the mechanism illustrated in my prior patent is very simple, that it in no wise affects the operation of the structure covered by said patent but only adds additional function thereto, and that by means of this atachment, the artificial hand is capable of a considerably greater range of use than heretofore.

I claim 1. In an artificial hand, a socket to receive the limb, a pair of longitudinally extending shafts, one of which is longitudinally shiftable upon the other, a hook-shaped grasping member having an outwardly projecting portion and pivoted upon the longitudinally shiftable shaft, a link operatively engaging the outward extension of said member with the other shaft whereby as the first named shaft is shifted, the member will be shifted into or out of'alignment with the shafts, and a relativelystraight grasping member pivoted at one end to said shiftneaenoo able shaft and operatively engaged witlrthe other shaft. 7

2. In an artificial hand, a socket to receive the limb, a pair of longitudinally extending shafts, one of which is longitudinally shiftable upon the other, a hook-shaped rasping member having an outwardly projecting portion and pivoted upon the longitudinally shiftable shaft, a link operatively engaging the outward extension of said memher with the other shaft whereby as the first named shaft is shifted, the member will be shifted into or out of align nent with the shafts, and a relatively straight grasping member pivoted at one end to said shiftable shaft and operatively engaged with the other shaft, said second named member having a hook-shaped portion extending away from the bill of the first'named member.

3. In an artificial hand, a socket to re-' c-eive the limb, a pair of longitudinally extending shafts, one of whichis longitudinally shiftable upon the other, the relatively fixed shaft having a hook, a hook-shaped grasping member having a bill at its free end and an outward extension at its inner end, the grasping member being pivoted upon the longitudinally shiftable shaft, a link operatively engaging the other shaft and said extension of said grasping member, a relatively straight grasping member pivoted at one end to the shift-able shaft and clamped upon the hook portion of the relatively fixed shaft whereby as said shiftable shaft in shifted in one direction the grasping members will be brought into parallel relation and in the other direction whereby the grasping members will be shifted into diverging relation with the inner face of the second named member extending parallel to the bill of the hook-shaped first named member. 7

4. In an artificial hand, a finger in the form of a hook and having a straight shank and a bill at right angles to the shank, a thumb pivoted to the base ofthe finger and having a straight inner face, and longitudinally rigid stump operated means whereby the thumb and finger may be relatively shifted to bring the thumb into parallel relation to the shank of the finger or into a position approximately at right angles thereto, the finger extending transversely'of the thumb and across the end of the. same when the finger and thumb are in an approximately parallel position.

5. In an artificial hand, a finger in the form of a hook and having a straight inner face and a bill, the inner face of which is at right angles to the shank, a thumb pivoted to-the base of the finger ahd having a straight inner face adapted to be turned inward beyond the extremity of the bill of said fingers, the thumb and'lingerjbeing relatively shift-able fromv a point where the thumb and finger are disposed at right angles to each other to a point Where the thumb and finger are engaged in parallel position and a longitudinally shiftable longitudinally rigid stump operated means whereby the thumb and finger may be relatively shifted. v

6. In an artificial hand, a finger in the form of a hook and having a straight shank and a bill, Whose inner face is at right angles to the inner face of the shank, said finger being formed of two plates and an intermediate block, and a thumb pivoted to the base of the finger and having a straight inner face and formed, of two plates held in spaced relation to each other, and a the extremity of the bill of the finger, and

a longitudinally rigid longitudinally shiftable stump operated means whereby the thumb and fingers may be relatively shifted into different and angular relations.

, 7. In an artificial hand, a finger in the form of a hook and a thumb pivoted to the base of the finger, both the finger and thumb being formed of two thin metallic plates,

and intermediate blocks of light -material. In testimony whereof I hereunto aliiX my signature.

HENRY F. GEISE. 

